Homepage for Lesson Plan Deconstruction can be found here. (Cacoo is embedded on that page too!)
Lesson Plan Deconstruction – A.3.2 Copy and paste this graphic organizer onto your wiki page. Using different colors, each member of the partnership must respond to each bullet.
A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
Worksheet
Graphic Organizer
One correct response for each question or blank
A diversity of responses can be correct
Formal test-like quality to practice or assess knowledge
Not standardized, more open-ended
Usually does not include teaching (new information)
Can include new information to capitalize on instructional potential
A graphic organizer should be constructed as a tool for learning. This graphic organizer follows the lesson plan template on page 15 in CS4TRC or page 17 in CRCSSSL. Read the additional information provided on this graphic organizer and use it to analyze the lesson plan you are deconstructing.
Important: 1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black! 2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a ‘v” by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response. 3. “Yes” and “no” (or variations of these such as “none”) are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Using Sensory Images (4.1)
Instructional Level: Advancing - Grade 8
Planning
Reading Comprehension Strategy (RCS)
Name the RCS - Using Sensory Images
Which AASL ONE or TWO indicators align with this reading comprehension strategy? Note both the number and the actual language of the indicator.
- Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6) - Organize knowledge so that it is useful. (2.1.2) - Yes, both of these aligned with reading comprehension strategies; the first with drawing inferences, the second indicator with determining main ideas.
Reading Development Level
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSSSL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows: Advancing: Grades 7-8 Advanced: Grades 9-10 Challenging: Grades 11-22
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading proficiency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. For example, I have used some of the advanced lessons in CS4TRC with less proficient 8th-grade students.
Instructional Strategies
Review these strategies on page 13 in CS4TRC or page 16 in CRCSSSL.
Which of these research-based instructional strategies have you used in your teaching? Name them. In my teaching I have used: cooperative learning, summarizing and note taking, identifying similarities and differences, and setting objectives and providing feedback.
I have used identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and notemaking, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning, and setting objectives and providing feedback.
Which of these instructional strategies do you need to learn? Name them and describe them. I need to learn: nonlinguistic representations and questions, cues, and advance organizers. Although neither defined in the text or the glossary, nonlinguistic representations are the generation of both mental and physical pictures or models to create graphic representations of the information. (Definition found here.) Questions, cues, and advance organizers, as defined by the text, are tools that build and activate on students' prior knowledge, as well as set a purpose for the reading. They prepare students for the learning task.
Non-linguistic representations can be particularly powerful in secondary schools. Kinesthetic activities are also non-linguistic representations. Tableaux (from theater) is a strategy that many students "get." Middle and high school students do not always get opportunities to use their physical bodies to express understanding (outside of P.E.)!
I need to learn questions, cues, and advance organizers. To some extent I think I have used these in my classroom but I need to learn more about it. The online article I found about it says that teachers can refine their questioning strategies to make the their teaching more effective. Advance organizers help students visualize and anticipate the lesson of the day. The article lists the K-W-L chart as an example of an advance organizer. I have some experience using K-W-L charts but it is not a common tool used in my classroom. http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/cues.php
Questions and cues really help learners focus on what is important. In some ways, we can think of them as the target learning objective of the day...
Advance organizers such as admit slips and anticipation guides (check out these as well) are especially effective in building background knowledge quickly when students lack it .
Lesson Length
What are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one. See page 15 (CS4TRC) or page 17 (CRCSSSL). The lesson we have chosen is predicted to last six or seven sessions. Can some pieces of the lessons be delivered in a single teacher setting or does the entire lesson have to be taught with your co-teacher? For example, could the "motivation" sections and the "guided practice" be taught by just the classroom teacher if need be due to time constraints?
Yes, you can always adjust the coteaching, but consider what students and teachers will lose in each session if there is only one educator and determine where the least loss will be felt. All published lesson plans are intended to be adapted by the educators who teach them. When scheduling becomes a problem, it is helpful if the librarian can also coteach in the classroom or computer lab, leaving the library assistant to mind the library in her absence.
I agree with my partner that the length of the lesson might be a concern if the library in unavailable or for unforeseen reasons two educators are unable to be present one day. Is it possible for some parts to be combined or shortened in order to accommodate scheduling issues and limited coteaching time? I do think the library should have flexible scheduling but even with that in place there are always a number of reasons the library suddenly becomes unavailable at a moment's notice. How do educators work around that when teaching this lesson?
Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice. What are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box?
Purpose
How is the purpose of the lesson connected—or not connected—to your idea of the type of instruction that “should” take place in the school library? The lesson's purpose is to use sensory images to deepen students' comprehension. It is my belief that 21st-century learners need the skills to understand how sources other than written ones can also qualify as primary and secondary resources. They need to interact with these types of resources and they need to know how to "read" them. These strategies then should also transfer to the written word. The librarian should have a key role on campus teaching literacy of any type! Agreed.
I think that some students may view the library as a place for only reading while others (depending on age and reading level) gravitate toward picture books or other visual media in libraries. I think the use of sensory images to understand the significance of historical events expands the perspectives of students who utilize different library resources. My opinion is that using sensory images to facilitate learning by helping students visualize history will benefit students across reading levels. One such targeted group that comes to mind are the English Language Learners.
Agreed. The Middle Passage book is exquisitely illustrated and graphic in places; I would not share it with younger students. Visual literacy and the ability to make inferences from visual images is a key 21st-century literacy skill. Clearly, to my way of thinking, any lesson that strengthens students' ability to make meaning from text is an appropriate use of the librarian's time and expertise.
List at least one verb that is used to name what students will do for every objective in this lesson; list the corresponding level on Bloom’s. Use this chart.
Objective
Verb
Level on Bloom's
Objective 1
comprehend
apply
Objective 2
distinguish
analyze
Objective 3
categorize
understand
Objective 4
self-assess
evaluate
Objective 5
compose
create
Good.
Resources, Materials, and EquipmentOn your lesson plan, you will fill in these categories:
Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, or Other Resources Websites Graphic Organizers (Graphic organizers for both books are on the ALA Editions Web Extras Web site.) Materials Equipment
Which are the different formats or genres used to support learners? This lesson employs two different graphic organizers. They are the Notemaking Graphic Organizer and the List/Group/Label Graphic Organizer. The lesson stimulates aural learners through the inclusion of blues music and /or call-and-response African-American spiritual music. Students will have the opportunity to listen and connect to music from both the past and the present, and hopefully make connections to music they've heard. In addition to written text, the lesson uses images from the texts that accompany this lesson. The mentor texts are: The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo, by Tom Feelings, and The Atlantic Slave Trade, by Johannes Postma. Videos are also included in the lesson.
Which technology tools are used? If technology is not used in this lesson, do you think there are appropriate tools to help students meet the lesson objectives? Name those tools and how you would use them. Technology is used to deliver this lesson, but students interacting with technology themselves is not part of the lesson. Instructors will use a data projector, a document camera, and various internet sites to deliver instruction. However, there are various opportunities throughout the lesson where students can be invited to interact with technology. For example, when the students are grouping words or phrases that have been provided during instruction - students can physically sort the words/phrases using an interactive whiteboard. Another example of how technology can be used takes place in the final days when students are creating their blues poems. Instead of students writing them on paper, students can record their poems in a Voicethread. Then when students are tasked with noting the sensory images in the stanzas, they can provide that feedback on the actual screen of the student's Voicethread.
Yes to all of these fine ideas for integrating technology tools into this lesson. Note: Actually, students are offered an Internet Pathfinder of resources for composing their blues poems (end of the page): http://www.storytrail.com/impact12/slave.htm
Collaboration
How does this lesson maximize the benefits of two (or more) educators coteaching? Be specific. There are many times throughout this lesson where one educator leads and the other educator models the thinking process, records ideas, models participatory behaviors, etc.. This happens beginning on Day One when one educator takes the students on a bookwalk while the the other records the sensory words students use to describe the images in the book. On Days Two and Three, the educators take turns modeling a think-aloud. In addition to working in tandem in front of the class, throughout this lessons both educators are tasked with monitoring students' negotiations, understanding, and completion of tasks. For example on Days Two and Three, both educators are in charge of monitoring students' negotiations and their understanding of how the text evokes sensory images. If needed, both are in charge of providing writing conference support if it is needed. On Days Four and Five, both educators monitor students' notemaking and bibliographic records. Then on the final days, both educators are monitoring adherence to the blues poem format, paying specific attention to end-of-line rhyming words. As students provide feedback to one another, both teachers monitor to ensure specific and positive feedback.
I am wondering which day or days you think it would be "acceptable" to have just one educator facilitating the lesson.
Assessment
Are there multiple methods/tools for assessing student outcomes? If there’s one, name it. If there are multiple, name them. There are multiple tools for assessing student outcomes. They are: graphic organizers, notes and responses, blues poem stanzas, and rubrics.
Are there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they? Students self assess formally and informally throughout the lesson. Specifically they're able to use the Notemaking and Works Consulted Rubric and the Blues Poem Assignment Sheet and Rubric to self assess their work. On Day Seven there is an opportunity for students to review other's students work by providing feedback about on another's blues poem stanza. Yes.
Standards - On your lesson plan you will list them in the appropriate categories. Reading and/or writing Listening and speaking Other content areas Information literacy Educational technology
What content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards in Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated. English Language Arts and Reading - Grade 8 - Texas b.2(B) - use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words or words with novel meanings b.7 - Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students are expected to analyze passages in well-known speeches for the author's use of literary devices and word and phrase choice (e.g., aphorisms, epigraphs) to appeal to the audience. b.8- Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about how an author's sensory language creates imagery in literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding b.10(D) - synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and support those findings with textual evidence.
Agreed
Which AASL indicators align with this lesson? Give both the number and the description for each. - Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding. (1.1.3) - Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. (1.1.4) - Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6) - Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information. (1.3.3) - Organize knowledge so that it is useful. (2.1.2) - Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others. (3.2.3.) - Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product. (3.4.2) - Interpret new information based on cultural and social context. (4.4.4) - Connect understanding to the real world. (2.3.1) - Recognize new knowledge and understanding. (2.4.3) Agreed - and my advice is to be sure that you will actually be assessing the indicators you identify. Less is more.
Implementation
Process
Motivation This lesson activates student interest because students will first respond to visual cues and engage in physical activity that allows them to envision the inhumane treatment and horrific experience of African slaves. These activities not only engage students but also provide a starting point for the teacher and school librarian to begin posing questions to students to determine their prior knowledge about the subject of slavery. Furthermore, these activities target various types of learners including visual and kinetic learners. On the fourth or fifth day students will read and consider the autobiographical story of the kidnapping of an eleven-year-old boy. Students will examine how the boy's account of his experience relates to the history of the slave trade. Students will then listen to blues music or spirituals that express the hardships and struggle of Africans who were forced to come to American colonies and endure slavery, oppression and prejudice. Finally, using the information gathered and song lyrics as examples, students will create their own original blues poem.
Agreed - This motivation for this lesson has been very successful students. My experience shows students like to use their bodies as well as their minds for visualization.
Motivation is also known as “anticipatory set” in the Madeline Hunter, EEI lesson plan design.Will this invitation to learn be effective in capturing students’ interest? Why or why not?
Yes, the motivation or anticipatory set will spark students' interest in the lesson and increase their willingness to learn more about the topic. The anticipatory set is intended to grab the attention of students and provide them with an opportunity to relate the objectives of the lesson to their own real-life experiences.The idea is that if students are able to determine how learning the objectives is meaningful to them beyond the lesson then they will be more invested in the lesson from start to finish. The examples of the anticipatory sets described in the lesson engage students mentally, visually, and physically.
What are your ideas to increase student buy-in to this lesson? Give at least one. Another way to introduce the topic to students using sensory experience is to have them try on wrist weights, such as the kind used for exercise, in order to begin to comprehend the heaviness of the shackles enslaved Africans would have worn. Allowing students the opportunity to experience some small semblance of the weight endured by countless African slaves might spark their interest to learn more about how any human would be able to survive such a horrific ordeal. Yes.
Another idea is to invite someone from the music department or a guest blues musician to explain the characteristics of the genre, to discuss how they write their own lyrics, provide examples of original lyrics, and play a blues number for the students.
Agreed - although I might wait until the end of the unit for this.
Student-friendly Objectives Students will identify and organize sensory words that describe the illustrations. Group and label the terms by sense.
Are these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example. Yes, the students are interpreting visual cues and using language to reflect on the experience of enslaved Africans. Moreover, students can relate what they see to what they already know in order to create a more accurate picture slavery. Students in the 8th-grade should be able to make inferences about images using descriptive sensory words to organize knowledge.
Agreed
In regards to the second sample, 8th-grade students should not need to be taught the five senses. However, a quick review would probably help all of the students, especially SPED and LEP.
I have been surprised by this! Touch is often the sense middle school students "forget."
Are there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example. Students may not understand what "sensory images" or "sensory words" are at the beginning of the assignment. Therefore, it is important that the teacher and the school librarian devise a plan for explaining what these terms mean and teaching students what kind of responses are acceptable from students prior to initiating the first think-aloud activity.
Or they can embed (or elicit from students) an explanation of each sense and examples into the tableau. Never be limited by a published lesson plan!
Presentation
Describe the modeling aspect of this lesson. Instructors will take turns using think-alouds which are intended to help students learn to monitor their thinking and improve their comprehension. The think-alouds allow students to hear each educator's thought process so that students may understand how connections are made and ideas formulated. Additionally, instructors will model participation procedures to demonstrate to students how they should respond to or raise a question. Educators will provide students with examples of sensory words, review notemaking formats, present sample graphic organizers, review pathfinder links, and emphasize the importance of constructive feedback.
How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the presentation component? Educators take turns using think-alouds to demonstrate to students how questions are posed and and how answers are formulated. Educators model question delivery, critical thinking processes, and verbal responses. Suggestions are recorded on a surface visible to all students so that students can see lists of adjectives describing each item. Students can then begin to determine how items relate to each other. The benefit to having two educators participate in modeling is that it provides students with a more holistic view of the think-aloud strategy. The content area teacher asks pertinent questions and the school librarian helps the teacher model learning strategies and organize information to facilitate comprehension.
Agreed and they can also show that there can be more than one way to respond to sensory imagery. It is important for students to note that each reader's experience is unique.
Student Participation Procedures or Student Practice Procedures
Are the directions clear? Give an example. Student Participation Procedures 1. Raise hand to suggest a short word or phrase. 2. Tell in which of the three columns it belongs.
The directions are very clear. Students will follow along as the book is read and raise their hand to suggest a word or phrase when they think it describes the experience of the enslaved Africans, the conquerors, or inanimate objects such as the slave ship.
Guided Practice How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the guided practice component? The benefits of having two educators are maximized in the guided practice component because both educators are able to harness their individual knowledge and skills to guide students through each portion of the lesson. For example, educators simultaneously monitor student negotiations and ensure that students understand how sensory images are derived from the text. Both the school librarian and classroom teacher can offer students individual assistance by conveying suggestions, helping with writing responses and poems, and reviewing bibliographic records for accuracy. Working together during the guided practice enable educators to address the learning needs of more students, thus increasing reading comprehension and student achievement.
Agreed - classroom teachers especially appreciate support for writing conferences - even brief ones such as this.
Closure Are students active in the closure component? What are students doing for closure? Students are active in the closure component of the lesson. At the end of the first day a volunteer from each student group will read the column heading examples and labels from their group to the class. The following day, the students divide into two groups, identify the stakeholder in the lesson, describe the person or object, and provide emotional responses. The next time, students will review their notes and highlight the most pertinent ideas or sensory words. Afterward, volunteers share their poem drafts with the class. Finally, students and educators discuss using sensory images to build understanding of historical events and experiences.
Agreed
Reflection How is the reflection component related to the learning objectives? The reflection component is designed to measure the effectiveness of the activity in addressing the learning objectives. When students reflect on how the images appealed to their senses they are addressing the first objective which is to use their senses to comprehend the impact of the slave trade. As students compare and contrast their responses to primary and secondary source documents they are meeting the second objective. By making notes, creating citations, organizing their information using graphic organizers and assessing their work using a rubric students are completing objectives three and four. The blues poem supports the fifth and final objective. Reflection provides an opportunity for students reflect on their learning and for educators to ensure students are meeting the learning objectives set forth for the lesson.
Yes
Extensions
What are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one. Depending on students' responses to blues music, continue the blues music connection. Combine the individual student stanzas and create a class song using them. PBS has a multitude of lesson plans to expand lessons about blues music.
Great resource! I will add this to the pathfinder!
If time doesn't allow an in-depth blues music study, the librarian could connect the art of Aaron Douglas and other Harlem Renaissance painters to extend the understanding of sensory images, art, and the connection to the Harlem Renaissance. After examining art created at the time, students can create an accompanying image to go with their blues poem stanza. Images can be scanned and displayed to accompany the the stanzas as part of the class blues poem Voicethread. (Voicethread procedure described earlier underneath the section about technology tools used in the lesson.)
And collaborate with the art teacher!
Depending on the nature of the scope and sequence in place at a school, this assignment could be used to link to or as a reference for the Civil Rights Movement. This lesson could begin a study and examination of the plight of African and African American people in the United States over the last few hundred years. It could also be a jumping off point to talk about the evolution of African American culture or the global significance of blues and gospel music. An extension of this lesson could begin with a discussion of how these early types of American music have influenced popular contemporary music. Students could listen to examples of music throughout the decades to the present and describe the similarities between singing, lyrics, and instrumentation.
Yes!
I believe you two are ready to take this template and soar with it. Brava!
Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
30 Possible Points
Plus Individual Reflection – 20 Possible Points – See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.
Collaborators: Jerusha and Liliana
Dr. M.
Homepage for Lesson Plan Deconstruction can be found here. (Cacoo is embedded on that page too!)
Lesson Plan Deconstruction – A.3.2
Copy and paste this graphic organizer onto your wiki page. Using different colors, each member of the partnership must respond to each bullet.
A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
A graphic organizer should be constructed as a tool for learning. This graphic organizer follows the lesson plan template on page 15 in CS4TRC or page 17 in CRCSSSL. Read the additional information provided on this graphic organizer and use it to analyze the lesson plan you are deconstructing.
Important:
1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black!
2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a ‘v” by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response.
3. “Yes” and “no” (or variations of these such as “none”) are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Using Sensory Images (4.1)
Instructional Level: Advancing - Grade 8
Planning
- Reading Comprehension Strategy (RCS)
Name the RCS - Using Sensory Images- Which AASL ONE or TWO indicators align with this reading comprehension strategy? Note both the number and the actual language of the indicator.
- Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)- Organize knowledge so that it is useful. (2.1.2) -
Yes, both of these aligned with reading comprehension strategies; the first with drawing inferences, the second indicator with determining main ideas.
- Reading Development Level
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSSSL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:Advancing: Grades 7-8
Advanced: Grades 9-10
Challenging: Grades 11-22
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading proficiency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. For example, I have used some of the advanced lessons in CS4TRC with less proficient 8th-grade students.
- Instructional Strategies
Review these strategies on page 13 in CS4TRC or page 16 in CRCSSSL.Which of these research-based instructional strategies have you used in your teaching? Name them.
In my teaching I have used: cooperative learning, summarizing and note taking, identifying similarities and differences, and setting objectives and providing feedback.
I have used identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and notemaking, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning, and setting objectives and providing feedback.
Which of these instructional strategies do you need to learn? Name them and describe them.
I need to learn: nonlinguistic representations and questions, cues, and advance organizers. Although neither defined in the text or the glossary, nonlinguistic representations are the generation of both mental and physical pictures or models to create graphic representations of the information. (Definition found here.) Questions, cues, and advance organizers, as defined by the text, are tools that build and activate on students' prior knowledge, as well as set a purpose for the reading. They prepare students for the learning task.
Non-linguistic representations can be particularly powerful in secondary schools. Kinesthetic activities are also non-linguistic representations. Tableaux (from theater) is a strategy that many students "get." Middle and high school students do not always get opportunities to use their physical bodies to express understanding (outside of P.E.)!
I need to learn questions, cues, and advance organizers. To some extent I think I have used these in my classroom but I need to learn more about it. The online article I found about it says that teachers can refine their questioning strategies to make the their teaching more effective. Advance organizers help students visualize and anticipate the lesson of the day. The article lists the K-W-L chart as an example of an advance organizer. I have some experience using K-W-L charts but it is not a common tool used in my classroom.
http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/cues.php
Questions and cues really help learners focus on what is important. In some ways, we can think of them as the target learning objective of the day...
Advance organizers such as admit slips and anticipation guides (check out these as well) are especially effective in building background knowledge quickly when students lack it .
- Lesson Length
What are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one. See page 15 (CS4TRC) or page 17 (CRCSSSL).The lesson we have chosen is predicted to last six or seven sessions. Can some pieces of the lessons be delivered in a single teacher setting or does the entire lesson have to be taught with your co-teacher? For example, could the "motivation" sections and the "guided practice" be taught by just the classroom teacher if need be due to time constraints?
Yes, you can always adjust the coteaching, but consider what students and teachers will lose in each session if there is only one educator and determine where the least loss will be felt. All published lesson plans are intended to be adapted by the educators who teach them. When scheduling becomes a problem, it is helpful if the librarian can also coteach in the classroom or computer lab, leaving the library assistant to mind the library in her absence.
I agree with my partner that the length of the lesson might be a concern if the library in unavailable or for unforeseen reasons two educators are unable to be present one day. Is it possible for some parts to be combined or shortened in order to accommodate scheduling issues and limited coteaching time? I do think the library should have flexible scheduling but even with that in place there are always a number of reasons the library suddenly becomes unavailable at a moment's notice. How do educators work around that when teaching this lesson?
Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice. What are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box?
- Purpose
How is the purpose of the lesson connected—or not connected—to your idea of the type of instruction that “should” take place in the school library?The lesson's purpose is to use sensory images to deepen students' comprehension. It is my belief that 21st-century learners need the skills to understand how sources other than written ones can also qualify as primary and secondary resources. They need to interact with these types of resources and they need to know how to "read" them. These strategies then should also transfer to the written word. The librarian should have a key role on campus teaching literacy of any type!
Agreed.
I think that some students may view the library as a place for only reading while others (depending on age and reading level) gravitate toward picture books or other visual media in libraries. I think the use of sensory images to understand the significance of historical events expands the perspectives of students who utilize different library resources. My opinion is that using sensory images to facilitate learning by helping students visualize history will benefit students across reading levels. One such targeted group that comes to mind are the English Language Learners.
Agreed. The Middle Passage book is exquisitely illustrated and graphic in places; I would not share it with younger students. Visual literacy and the ability to make inferences from visual images is a key 21st-century literacy skill. Clearly, to my way of thinking, any lesson that strengthens students' ability to make meaning from text is an appropriate use of the librarian's time and expertise.
- Objectives
Review Bloom’s Taxonomy: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htmList at least one verb that is used to name what students will do for every objective in this lesson; list the corresponding level on Bloom’s. Use this chart.
- Resources, Materials, and EquipmentOn your lesson plan, you will fill in these categories:
Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, or Other ResourcesWebsites
Graphic Organizers (Graphic organizers for both books are on the ALA Editions Web Extras Web site.)
Materials
Equipment
Which are the different formats or genres used to support learners?
This lesson employs two different graphic organizers. They are the Notemaking Graphic Organizer and the List/Group/Label Graphic Organizer. The lesson stimulates aural learners through the inclusion of blues music and /or call-and-response African-American spiritual music. Students will have the opportunity to listen and connect to music from both the past and the present, and hopefully make connections to music they've heard. In addition to written text, the lesson uses images from the texts that accompany this lesson. The mentor texts are: The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo, by Tom Feelings, and The Atlantic Slave Trade, by Johannes Postma. Videos are also included in the lesson.
Which technology tools are used? If technology is not used in this lesson, do you think there are appropriate tools to help students meet the lesson objectives? Name those tools and how you would use them.
Technology is used to deliver this lesson, but students interacting with technology themselves is not part of the lesson. Instructors will use a data projector, a document camera, and various internet sites to deliver instruction. However, there are various opportunities throughout the lesson where students can be invited to interact with technology. For example, when the students are grouping words or phrases that have been provided during instruction - students can physically sort the words/phrases using an interactive whiteboard. Another example of how technology can be used takes place in the final days when students are creating their blues poems. Instead of students writing them on paper, students can record their poems in a Voicethread. Then when students are tasked with noting the sensory images in the stanzas, they can provide that feedback on the actual screen of the student's Voicethread.
Yes to all of these fine ideas for integrating technology tools into this lesson. Note: Actually, students are offered an Internet Pathfinder of resources for composing their blues poems (end of the page):
http://www.storytrail.com/impact12/slave.htm
- Collaboration
How does this lesson maximize the benefits of two (or more) educators coteaching? Be specific.There are many times throughout this lesson where one educator leads and the other educator models the thinking process, records ideas, models participatory behaviors, etc.. This happens beginning on Day One when one educator takes the students on a bookwalk while the the other records the sensory words students use to describe the images in the book. On Days Two and Three, the educators take turns modeling a think-aloud. In addition to working in tandem in front of the class, throughout this lessons both educators are tasked with monitoring students' negotiations, understanding, and completion of tasks. For example on Days Two and Three, both educators are in charge of monitoring students' negotiations and their understanding of how the text evokes sensory images. If needed, both are in charge of providing writing conference support if it is needed. On Days Four and Five, both educators monitor students' notemaking and bibliographic records. Then on the final days, both educators are monitoring adherence to the blues poem format, paying specific attention to end-of-line rhyming words. As students provide feedback to one another, both teachers monitor to ensure specific and positive feedback.
I am wondering which day or days you think it would be "acceptable" to have just one educator facilitating the lesson.
- Assessment
Are there multiple methods/tools for assessing student outcomes? If there’s one, name it. If there are multiple, name them.There are multiple tools for assessing student outcomes. They are: graphic organizers, notes and responses, blues poem stanzas, and rubrics.
Are there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they?
Students self assess formally and informally throughout the lesson. Specifically they're able to use the Notemaking and Works Consulted Rubric and the Blues Poem Assignment Sheet and Rubric to self assess their work. On Day Seven there is an opportunity for students to review other's students work by providing feedback about on another's blues poem stanza.
Yes.
Standards -
On your lesson plan you will list them in the appropriate categories.
Reading and/or writing
Listening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
What content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards in Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated.
English Language Arts and Reading - Grade 8 - Texas
b.2(B) - use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words or words with novel meanings
b.7 - Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students are expected to analyze passages in well-known speeches for the author's use of literary devices and word and phrase choice (e.g., aphorisms, epigraphs) to appeal to the audience.
b.8- Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about how an author's sensory language creates imagery in literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding
b.10(D) - synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and support those findings with textual evidence.
Agreed
Which AASL indicators align with this lesson? Give both the number and the description for each.
- Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding. (1.1.3)
- Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. (1.1.4)
- Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)
- Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information. (1.3.3)
- Organize knowledge so that it is useful. (2.1.2)
- Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others. (3.2.3.)
- Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product. (3.4.2)
- Interpret new information based on cultural and social context. (4.4.4)
- Connect understanding to the real world. (2.3.1)
- Recognize new knowledge and understanding. (2.4.3)
Agreed - and my advice is to be sure that you will actually be assessing the indicators you identify. Less is more.
Implementation
- Process
MotivationThis lesson activates student interest because students will first respond to visual cues and engage in physical activity that allows them to envision the inhumane treatment and horrific experience of African slaves. These activities not only engage students but also provide a starting point for the teacher and school librarian to begin posing questions to students to determine their prior knowledge about the subject of slavery. Furthermore, these activities target various types of learners including visual and kinetic learners. On the fourth or fifth day students will read and consider the autobiographical story of the kidnapping of an eleven-year-old boy. Students will examine how the boy's account of his experience relates to the history of the slave trade. Students will then listen to blues music or spirituals that express the hardships and struggle of Africans who were forced to come to American colonies and endure slavery, oppression and prejudice. Finally, using the information gathered and song lyrics as examples, students will create their own original blues poem.
Agreed - This motivation for this lesson has been very successful students. My experience shows students like to use their bodies as well as their minds for visualization.
Motivation is also known as “anticipatory set” in the Madeline Hunter, EEI lesson plan design.Will this invitation to learn be effective in capturing students’ interest? Why or why not?
Yes, the motivation or anticipatory set will spark students' interest in the lesson and increase their willingness to learn more about the topic. The anticipatory set is intended to grab the attention of students and provide them with an opportunity to relate the objectives of the lesson to their own real-life experiences.The idea is that if students are able to determine how learning the objectives is meaningful to them beyond the lesson then they will be more invested in the lesson from start to finish. The examples of the anticipatory sets described in the lesson engage students mentally, visually, and physically.
http://template.aea267.iowapages.org/lessonplan/
What are your ideas to increase student buy-in to this lesson? Give at least one.
Another way to introduce the topic to students using sensory experience is to have them try on wrist weights, such as the kind used for exercise, in order to begin to comprehend the heaviness of the shackles enslaved Africans would have worn. Allowing students the opportunity to experience some small semblance of the weight endured by countless African slaves might spark their interest to learn more about how any human would be able to survive such a horrific ordeal.
Yes.
Another idea is to invite someone from the music department or a guest blues musician to explain the characteristics of the genre, to discuss how they write their own lyrics, provide examples of original lyrics, and play a blues number for the students.
Agreed - although I might wait until the end of the unit for this.
Student-friendly Objectives
Students will identify and organize sensory words that describe the illustrations.
Group and label the terms by sense.
Are these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example.
Yes, the students are interpreting visual cues and using language to reflect on the experience of enslaved Africans. Moreover, students can relate what they see to what they already know in order to create a more accurate picture slavery. Students in the 8th-grade should be able to make inferences about images using descriptive sensory words to organize knowledge.
Agreed
In regards to the second sample, 8th-grade students should not need to be taught the five senses. However, a quick review would probably help all of the students, especially SPED and LEP.
I have been surprised by this! Touch is often the sense middle school students "forget."
Are there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example.
Students may not understand what "sensory images" or "sensory words" are at the beginning of the assignment. Therefore, it is important that the teacher and the school librarian devise a plan for explaining what these terms mean and teaching students what kind of responses are acceptable from students prior to initiating the first think-aloud activity.
Or they can embed (or elicit from students) an explanation of each sense and examples into the tableau. Never be limited by a published lesson plan!
Presentation
Describe the modeling aspect of this lesson.
Instructors will take turns using think-alouds which are intended to help students learn to monitor their thinking and improve their comprehension. The think-alouds allow students to hear each educator's thought process so that students may understand how connections are made and ideas formulated. Additionally, instructors will model participation procedures to demonstrate to students how they should respond to or raise a question. Educators will provide students with examples of sensory words, review notemaking formats, present sample graphic organizers, review pathfinder links, and emphasize the importance of constructive feedback.
How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the presentation component?
Educators take turns using think-alouds to demonstrate to students how questions are posed and and how answers are formulated. Educators model question delivery, critical thinking processes, and verbal responses. Suggestions are recorded on a surface visible to all students so that students can see lists of adjectives describing each item. Students can then begin to determine how items relate to each other. The benefit to having two educators participate in modeling is that it provides students with a more holistic view of the think-aloud strategy. The content area teacher asks pertinent questions and the school librarian helps the teacher model learning strategies and organize information to facilitate comprehension.
Agreed and they can also show that there can be more than one way to respond to sensory imagery. It is important for students to note that each reader's experience is unique.
Student Participation Procedures
or
Student Practice Procedures
Are the directions clear? Give an example.
Student Participation Procedures
1. Raise hand to suggest a short word or phrase.
2. Tell in which of the three columns it belongs.
The directions are very clear. Students will follow along as the book is read and raise their hand to suggest a word or phrase when they think it describes the experience of the enslaved Africans, the conquerors, or inanimate objects such as the slave ship.
Guided Practice
How are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the guided practice component?
The benefits of having two educators are maximized in the guided practice component because both educators are able to harness their individual knowledge and skills to guide students through each portion of the lesson. For example, educators simultaneously monitor student negotiations and ensure that students understand how sensory images are derived from the text. Both the school librarian and classroom teacher can offer students individual assistance by conveying suggestions, helping with writing responses and poems, and reviewing bibliographic records for accuracy. Working together during the guided practice enable educators to address the learning needs of more students, thus increasing reading comprehension and student achievement.
Agreed - classroom teachers especially appreciate support for writing conferences - even brief ones such as this.
Closure
Are students active in the closure component? What are students doing for closure?
Students are active in the closure component of the lesson. At the end of the first day a volunteer from each student group will read the column heading examples and labels from their group to the class. The following day, the students divide into two groups, identify the stakeholder in the lesson, describe the person or object, and provide emotional responses. The next time, students will review their notes and highlight the most pertinent ideas or sensory words. Afterward, volunteers share their poem drafts with the class. Finally, students and educators discuss using sensory images to build understanding of historical events and experiences.
Agreed
Reflection
How is the reflection component related to the learning objectives?
The reflection component is designed to measure the effectiveness of the activity in addressing the learning objectives. When students reflect on how the images appealed to their senses they are addressing the first objective which is to use their senses to comprehend the impact of the slave trade. As students compare and contrast their responses to primary and secondary source documents they are meeting the second objective. By making notes, creating citations, organizing their information using graphic organizers and assessing their work using a rubric students are completing objectives three and four. The blues poem supports the fifth and final objective. Reflection provides an opportunity for students reflect on their learning and for educators to ensure students are meeting the learning objectives set forth for the lesson.
Yes
- Extensions
What are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one.Depending on students' responses to blues music, continue the blues music connection. Combine the individual student stanzas and create a class song using them. PBS has a multitude of lesson plans to expand lessons about blues music.
Great resource! I will add this to the pathfinder!
If time doesn't allow an in-depth blues music study, the librarian could connect the art of Aaron Douglas and other Harlem Renaissance painters to extend the understanding of sensory images, art, and the connection to the Harlem Renaissance. After examining art created at the time, students can create an accompanying image to go with their blues poem stanza. Images can be scanned and displayed to accompany the the stanzas as part of the class blues poem Voicethread. (Voicethread procedure described earlier underneath the section about technology tools used in the lesson.)
And collaborate with the art teacher!
Depending on the nature of the scope and sequence in place at a school, this assignment could be used to link to or as a reference for the Civil Rights Movement. This lesson could begin a study and examination of the plight of African and African American people in the United States over the last few hundred years. It could also be a jumping off point to talk about the evolution of African American culture or the global significance of blues and gospel music. An extension of this lesson could begin with a discussion of how these early types of American music have influenced popular contemporary music. Students could listen to examples of music throughout the decades to the present and describe the similarities between singing, lyrics, and instrumentation.
Yes!
I believe you two are ready to take this template and soar with it. Brava!
Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
30 Possible Points
Plus Individual Reflection – 20 Possible Points – See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.